Chapter 20 : My Guess Was Conservative!
Chapter 20 - My Guess Was Conservative!
Grandpa Yang’s family was very punctual with their meals, usually eating around seven o'clock.
Tonight, however, was an exception.
He had called his wife over to watch the news, and the old couple watched until past seven. It was only when they felt their stomachs growling that they realized dinner hadn't even been made yet.
"Can you pause it? I’ll go cook; you pause it for a bit," the old lady said.
Grandpa Yang replied, "This is the news; who’s going to pause it for you?"
"Then I’ll watch a little more, just a little more!" The old lady was no longer in a hurry.
Grandpa Yang watched his wife intently focused on the news and deeply regretted his decision. Had he known, he wouldn't have called her over to watch.
The news was scheduled during dinner time, specifically to make it convenient for everyone to watch while they ate.
Now, Grandpa Yang was the one being held up!
The emergence of Zhaonan Focus had captured many people's attention.
In all their years of watching television, they had never seen a news program advertised so heavily.
Ads were plastered everywhere, all the local stations were pushing it together, and you could even hear about it while taking the bus or a car.
Regardless of whether you wanted to hear it or not, you were bound to learn about Zhaonan Focus.
Using advertisements to attract people to watch isn't considered a great feat; keeping the audience—that is where the real mastery lies.
And Zhaonan Focus undoubtedly possessed that mastery!
The news stories selected for the premiere were all carefully chosen—controversial pieces that resonated with the conflicts of the modern era.
It focused on broadcasting news that everyone cared about and enjoyed discussing.
Just like Grandpa Yang and his wife, once they turned on the TV, they kept watching and didn't even want to move.
"Next, Xiao Yu will bring you tomorrow's weather report for the province..."
The livelihood news came to a temporary close, moving into the weather forecast phase.
the weather reporter was a sweet young girl who didn't use Mandarin, but rather the local dialect. First, she displayed the weather map, and then she explained it bit by bit.
"Jia City will be overcast turning to light rain tomorrow. Not only will the temperature be low, but the wind will be quite strong. Everyone must remember to add more layers..."
The weather interpretation was extremely detailed.
In the Zhaonan News Simulcast aired on Zhaonan Satellite TV, there were also weather reports.
However, some people only looked at the temperature or whether it was sunny or cloudy; they didn't understand things like the amount of rainfall or what a "level X" wind meant.
Xiao Yu, with her sweet voice, used the most down-to-earth metaphors to introduce every aspect of tomorrow's weather.
"That’s all for today’s weather report. Next up are the international briefs brought to you by Zi Han and Yu Feng. This is the Weather Information Station; we’ll see you at the same time tomorrow..."
Subsequently, the broadcast returned to the main studio, handed over to the two anchors.
The so-called international briefs involved picking big, small, and even funny international events to talk about.
Usually, when many people saw international news, they didn't pay much attention.
I can't even keep up with the affairs of my own country; why would I care about international matters?
But these briefs were truly brief, mostly just a few sentences long and very concise.
The audience actually didn't find it annoying.
And then...
When the program reached its end, they were stunned to find that the hour-and-a-half-long show was already over.
"It's actually eight o'clock already, and I haven't even eaten!" Grandpa Yang cried out in surprise.
The expressions of most viewers were similar to Grandpa Yang's.
In their expectations, news programs were mostly very stodgy; unless one followed current affairs closely, they wouldn't be able to keep watching.
Yet they not only finished this program but even lost track of time.
"This news program seems pretty good..."
The audience remembered it. A quick look showed that it would be broadcast at this same time tomorrow as well; they made a mental note to continue watching tomorrow.
They hadn't yet had their fill of these news stories.
……
Inside the TV station, Chen Ran hadn't left work yet.
The premiere was today, so everyone in the production crew worked overtime.
Even after the program finished broadcasting, no one had left yet.
Primarily, it was because many people were still nervous, not knowing how the program fared.
"Our revamp this time was quite substantial; I really don't know how the results will turn out."
Many people in the production crew were feeling apprehensive.
It was considered a new program format; they had never produced this kind of news program before and were afraid of meeting their Waterloo.
Director Liu Bing clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Everyone, look here."
Everyone looked closer and found it was the interface of a local forum.
On it, there were many posts discussing Zhaonan Focus.
"Has everyone watched the Public Channel's new Zhaonan Focus? This program is quite interesting."
Floor 2: "A news program? How can that be interesting?"
OP's reply to Floor 2: "Go take a look and you'll know. It's different from before; they're broadcasting local news now. I can't quite explain it, but you'll understand once you watch it."
Floor 3: "The advertising for this program is too aggressive; it's plastered everywhere. I don't know why a news program needs so much promotion."
Floor 4: "I agree with OP; many of the news stories are indeed quite interesting."
In addition to this post, there were several others. Director Chen Bing clicked through them one by one and found that most of the evaluations were good.
"It looks like our program's word-of-mouth is decent, but why is there so little discussion? Is it because not enough people are watching?" someone began to worry again.
Chen Ran said, "People who go on forums are only a minority; it's normal for discussions to be scarce. Regarding the hot topic discussion at the end of the program, I just checked the participation volume. From the end of the show until now, there have already been nearly five hundred discussions. If all goes well, tonight’s discussions will at least break a thousand..."
The others were moved: "That many?"
Don't just look at it as five hundred people; the program had only just finished broadcasting not long ago, and people are generally lazy. If they didn't have a strong desire to discuss, they wouldn't participate.
After all, the method for participating in the discussion was quite troublesome; one needed to scan a code to follow the official account and then enter the topic to participate. It was indeed a bit of a hassle.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.
The ratings could be tallied tomorrow at the earliest. They had been feeling very apprehensive, but now that they heard the data was decent, much of the tension in their hearts dissipated.
"No matter what the ratings are, we've already done our best. Everyone has been busy during this period; rest well tonight, and please continue to work hard tomorrow!"
Liu Bing cheered everyone up.
Since it was a daily news program, it wasn't as if they could relax just because it had premiered; this was a long-term job.
……
Chen Ran had only just gotten off work when Director Zhang called.
"I watched the program; it felt very good. Even your Auntie Yun watched it with great interest. I saw there was a topic for discussion; how many participants are there now?"
Director Zhang went straight to the heart of the matter; he was also somewhat worried about the ratings.
Chen Ran recounted the data from just now. Director Zhang immediately let out a hearty laugh:
"Like I said, if a housewife like your Auntie Yun, who usually doesn't watch the news, can watch it with such enthusiasm, then it definitely won't be bad."
Beside him, Yang Yun chided, "Old Zhang, what do you mean by that?"
Director Zhang coughed and covered the receiver.
Chen Ran let out a snicker. This Uncle Zhang looked quite stern; who knew he was a bit henpecked?
After a while, Director Zhang continued: "The data is good; I feel it's a sure thing. My guess last time was a bit conservative; at the very least, we can sit at 6 and look toward 7!"
Chen Ran thought to himself: If it's really just "sitting at 6 and looking toward 7," then it would truly be bad.